Forgiveness
by minachandler
Summary: Set just after 4x06. When Sara tells Laurel she's leaving, Laurel decides she's held back long enough about Nyssa. Laurel&Sara with references to Black Assassin.
(LAUREL is in her room, rummaging through her drawers until she finally unearths the stuffed shark she was looking for. SARA comes in surreptitiously, barely making a sound, but as soon as she reaches out to touch her sister's shoulder LAUREL whips around, fist raised, feet apart, in her default fighting stance.)

 **SARA:** Whoa, it's only me, sis.

 **LAUREL** (visibly relaxing – and realising how ridiculous she must look ready to throw a punch with a stuffed animal in her other hand): Sorry.

 **SARA** (trying not to look too impressed): No, I – see Nyssa taught you well.

 **LAUREL:** She did, yeah.

 **SARA:** Wait, is that – I can't believe you kept that.

 **LAUREL:** I always used to find you hugging the damn thing whenever you were upset. (She hands the stuffed shark to SARA.) Including whenever I upset you.

 **SARA:** We're sisters. And we were just kids. It would have been weird if we never fought.

 **LAUREL:** That's... not what I mean.

 **SARA:** What do you mean?

(LAUREL turns away from her sister and sits down on her bed, not quite able to look at her.)

 **LAUREL:** About Nyssa. There's – something I haven't told you.

(SARA looks alarmed at the tears suddenly in her sister's eyes so she sits down on the bed next to her. The stuffed shark falls from her hand and lands softly between them.)

 **SARA:** Laurel, it's okay.

 **LAUREL:** No, it's not. I – I told you about how Nyssa didn't want me to bring you back... that when we did use the Lazarus Pit on you she destroyed it.

 **SARA** (nodding): And Merlyn had her taken to the dungeon.

 **LAUREL:** Yeah, and then when I tried to bust her out she wouldn't let me. Because of what Merlyn could have done to you.

 **SARA:** I remember. You told me everything.

 **LAUREL** (shaking her head): Not everything.

 **SARA** (reaching out to squeeze her sister's hand): Laurel, it's okay. (LAUREL is wide-eyed but not as teary. She seems confused, almost. SARA allows a small smile tinged with just a tiny bit of melancholy to spread across her lips.) You're my sister. And even if I've been dead for a year, I still know you better than anyone else on the planet. That – and for some reason we keep falling for the same people.

 **LAUREL** (laughing weakly): Was I that obvious?

 **SARA:** You've never been very good at hiding the fact that you love someone.

 **LAUREL** (quietly, in a voice that is barely more than a whisper): I did. I do. Love her, I mean.

 **SARA:** I can't exactly say I blame you.

 **LAUREL:** But – Sara, we never meant for it to happen. Neither of us. And I swore I would never let anything happen between us because I didn't want to... betray you. But then for about a week I thought I had lost her forever and when I saw she was alive, I just – we just –

 **SARA:** Pretty-bird, it's all right.

 **LAUREL:** No, it's not. And I'm sorry.

 **SARA** (bluntly): Laurel. I was _dead._ There's nothing to be sorry for.

 **LAUREL** (not exactly looking ready to be forgiven just yet): How long have you known?

 **SARA:** Pretty much since you told me about what happened after you brought me back in Nanda Parbat. There was just this – look on your face. It was hard to miss. Especially when I remember seeing that exact expression in the mirror whenever I missed Nyssa.

 **LAUREL:** I was planning on telling you. I just didn't know how. Or when. But now you're leaving I thought it was only right that you knew. About Nyssa and me. I just – didn't expect you to –

 **SARA:** Be so okay with it?

 **LAUREL** (doubtfully): Are you? (She looks away for a moment.) I always got the feeling that you were the love of her life.

 **SARA:** I used to think that about Ollie.

 **LAUREL:** You and me both.

(They both laugh with faint amusement and just a hint of exasperation that edges dangerously close to the bitterness of their past.)

 **SARA:** I actually meant _you_ and Ollie. But in hindsight I realised – that kind of thing has to be earned. And I know I'm to blame for that, in ten different ways, but he never earned being the love of your life.

 **LAUREL:** Are you sure you're talking about Ollie, or someone else? (SARA raises her eyebrows.) Being obvious kinda runs in the family, sis.

 **SARA:** I just… of course I loved Nyssa. I always will. But what we had – it was never _pure_. I wasn't good for her. She took care of me, made me strong, stronger than I ever did, but any future I wanted to have with her – it was always tied with the League. With the darkness that had festered in me since I got on that boat. And I stayed with her – and went back to her – because I was selfish. She deserved someone better than me, someone who could show her a way out a life in the League, under her father's thumb. But I – I couldn't be that person. Not when I needed that life as much as I needed her. And now with this – bloodlust I have to handle –

 **LAUREL:** I'm sorry about that too. I know this is all my fault. God, when I first got to Nanda Parbat with Thea, Nyssa told me I was only thinking of myself in bringing you back. I just… wanted you back in my life and I just felt like we could deal with whatever happened as a side effect later. Together.

 **SARA:** Hey. For what it's worth? I don't know how I could keep on going without you alive either. You're my family and I love you. I always will. So don't apologise for doing something that meant I got to see you again. To see dad, Ollie, Felicity, Thea, Dig – I even got a kid named after me, Laurel, and I'll get to see her sometime. And I'll get through this. Honestly. I'm glad to be alive. And I'm glad you saved me.

(SARA reaches forward and hugs LAUREL, who hugs her fiercely back.)

 **LAUREL:** I just wish I could've saved Nyssa too.

 **SARA:** You did. Maybe not in the way you wanted to – but you did.

 **LAUREL:** What makes you so sure?

 **SARA:** Because… I can see she saved you too. Not just by turning you into a total badass, because to be honest, you were already halfway there. (LAUREL laughs.) I just mean – I feel like you've figured out who you are. As the Black Canary, but also as Laurel Lance. Someone I'm so proud to call my sister. And I have a hunch that Nyssa helped you do that.

 **LAUREL:** She did. Thank you, Sara.

 **SARA:** For what?

 **LAUREL:** For just – being here. And for forgiving me.

 **SARA** (shaking her head): You don't need forgiveness when you haven't done anything wrong. And – even if you did? You forgave me for Ollie. Sometimes I don't think I even deserved that.

 **LAUREL** (hugging her again): Who am I to stand in the way of you being happy, Sar-Bear?

 **SARA** (rolling her eyes): Okay, you calling me _that_ , I'm not sure I can forgive. (They both smile.) But I'm gonna miss you, pretty-bird.

 **LAUREL:** I'll miss you too. But – maybe I can come up to Central City sometime soon too. I don't see Mom enough as it is.

 **SARA:** That would be good. Before I go, though, I – wanted to see Sara.

 **LAUREL:** You want me to come with you?

 **SARA:** Please.

 **LAUREL:** I could ask Thea to come along too. Sara adores her. And I know it's been a while since you've been around babies but you're always good with them. She'll like you.

(SARA reaches down to the floor where the stuffed shark has fallen and picks it up.)

 **SARA:** Think she'll like Fin?

 **LAUREL** (smiling fondly at her sister): She'll love it.

(Scene ends with THEA tentatively walking in and joining LAUREL and SARA, who smile and begin to share their plans for the evening. SARA is still holding the shark and her cheeks flush in embarrassment as LAUREL tells THEA a story about FIN from when they were younger. And all three of them are still in the process of healing, in different ways, but one thing's for sure.

They're home.)


End file.
